You want to move HERE???

Did you know that half of the U.S. Population would move if they had the chance? Try to guess where 38 percent of you said you wanted to live? Seattle!!! My city is the third most desired city for folks wanting to move. Imagine that... All I can say is...

Just what are you people SMOKING????

Seattle????

Let me let you in on some facts about this place. There is no such thing as GREYS ANATOMY HOSPITAL. It doesn't exist. Matter of fact the show is shot in L.A. Another thing, this picture on the left was taken during one of the 6 days when it didn't rain or lately SNOW. The weather is GREAT 6 days a year over the summer. We have a tradition of celebrating the 4th of July with umbrellas. Memorial Day? Rain. Labor Day ? Rain. Easter ?, Rain. Chances are REALLY good it will rain on your birthday. If you like wearing sweaters, then you will LOVE it here, as you can wear them almost all year. Employment??? We had about a GAZILLION layoffs in Seattle in the last few weeks, with Starbucks, Boeing, WaMu, and Microsoft, all had HUGE layoffs. No one has a Job in Seattle now so even if you could move here, chances are you couldnt find work to save your behind. Want a house? Home prices in the right neighborhoods will set you back close to a Million bucks. (The homes that have this "Frasier" view (I always called it the "Frasier view"), start at 3 Million and go up from there) and that's AFTER the recent drop in home prices. Before the price drop, I couldn't write down the numbers because I personally cant count that high. The "reasonable neighborhoods are about an hour a way from downtown, which means you will have a two hour commute because the traffic is some of the worse in the Nation. Sports? The Seahawks won only 4 games this year. The Mariners lost over a 1oo games last season. Our NBA team was so bad, they MOVED. The Washington Huskies in football lost every game they played this year. The Washington State Cougars won only one game...they beat the Huskies. We are the Anti - Boston of sports. We haven't won a Major Championship since 1979. Its LOSERVILLE Death. We lead the Nation in Suicides. We have owned that title for decades. Kurt Cobain (a native of the State) killed himself right here. The worst Serial Killer in history is Ted Bundy who was tried for 25 murders but had 10 other cases that didn't have enough Evidence to get conviction, but was said to kill anywhere between 25-300 victims...of course he is from here. Even the history of Seattle is DIRTY! Skid Row came from Seattle. Back in the day this was a city of Prostitution, Gambling and drinking. You can still tour some of these places in the "Underground Seattle tour". Gold Diggers came back from Alaska and blew their new found fortune right here. It was sin city before Vegas was around. Even our most famous schoolteacher is well... her name is Mary Kay Letourneau and she married an ex-pupil 10 years after she raped him when he was just 12. I blame this all on the cloudy days.

But Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! People are caught up in the "Sleepless in Seattle" fantasy. They think this place is like the set of "Fraisier" or the cult hit "Singles". Most people who visit, REMARKABLY, catch it during the 6 days dryspell, and they tell everyone how nice Seattle is, and make a big deal about our Space Needle (Yawn) our Mountains and our BIG Mountain (Rainier) Its a VOLCANO My friends and its going to BLOW! one day and its going to be UGLY)!!! or the Starbucks on every corner (and they are on every corner in YOUR town, too) or the local Salmon (they are disappearing and pretty soon will be all farm grown) you can treat yourself to at one of the many Seafood restaurants down on the waterfront. Its fantasy!!! Its not all THAT. You would have WAY more fun in Florida, or Hawaii, or Southern California. OR, the two cities that beat Seattle / San Diego (#2) and Denver (#1). Now I can see why someone would want to move to these places, but

Seattle?

To quote Tony Soprano... "Foggetaboutit!"

Private Jets and Fancy Toilets

Ah, to be in Banking. The Government has given you Billions. (45 Billion to Citigroup....FORTY FIVE BILLION DOLLARS!!!!) 45 Billion with no strings attached and no rules or even need to tell the American people what you're going to do with the money. The Person who sold Congress on this was a former member of Goldman Sachs. So this is like getting money for your pals. So Citi was on the way to the candy store to buy a 50 Million dollar Dassault Falcon 7X jet (pictured), actually they were going to buy multiple Private jets. The Detroit Automakers got burned at the stake for showing up to Washington in leased Jets. They agreed to not even lease Jets in return for their 14 BILLION dollar bailout. Is anyone outraged at the complete SCAM going on here??? Banks got 300 Billion dollars THREE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS and they are still not lending. When they do they get 8 to 36 percent interest. More on the higher side in interest on the backs of the poor with totally BS Credit Card "Adjustments". I have been a huge fan of Obama, and I appreciate that he supposedly personally made the call to Citigroup's Executives to halt their purchase of the private jet, but my questions is, WHAT ELSE are they doing???? If I was Obama, I would force them to lend, and I would force them to forgive some or all the debt and interest they have on Americans and do a one time "wipe the slate". Lets face, many Americans are NEVER going to get out of their debt to banks, and I cant blame it all on them. How can you pay your bills when you don't have a job? The downward spiral has only just begun. Had the Banks used FAIR terms and conditions, they would not have put so many consumers in a hole. Credit Cards and Real Estate was the "Golden Calf" for Banks. Banks like WaMu pushed the envelope of greed. GREED! In a post Reagan deregulated World, the Banks got a license to steal and rip people off ...and they did. I would also force them to make loans at 1% to 2% interest, not 8 to 36% Who says Banks have to make so much money on people??? The average margin in a grocery store is only 1%, why do Bank Margins have to be so high??? If the President is serious about changing the direction of this recession, its going to take SIGNIFICANT kinds of steps to get the Country going in the right direction. I would suggest the President also LOWER TAXES. I applaud the Republicans for fighting for lower taxes. I do not feel that Billions or in this case, Trillions of dollars in Government spending in more Government programs is going to do anything to effect what is going on right now. We don't need new Govt programs, we need regulation in the Banking industry. Banks have had a free pass to rip off consumers. The Banks are still scamming us. Its not rocket science. It doesn't have to "Take a long time to turn this around". America does want action. We want a fair deal. President Obama, go after the Banks and bring some real accountability to this bailout. Make them earn the Billions we gave them, and don't give them a penny more! Stop the wasteful spending going on RIGHT NOW. Do we really need to go into space right now??? Do we have to keep giving BILLIONS to Israel and North Korea???? Wise up! Put America on a real Budget and Stop printing money. Its obvious the Lobbyist, with their control over Congress are still running the Country. Congress is watching out for their contributors and not their constituents.

Its SUCH Bullshit.

Oscar, blows it...again!

I would like to thank the Academy...for nothing this year! What in the World is going on in Tinseltown? The Dark Knight and Gran Torino got hardly a nomination this morning. I happened to be in the city of Angels and was up at 5:32am to see the results live, and boy was I disappointed. The 15 years after Forrest Gump re-do "Benjamin Button" (and although I saw it as practically a remake, it is a good remake) got an astounding 13 Nominations. (and I am thrilled to see Taraji Phenson get nominated for best Supporting Actress) What interesting to point out about the Forrest Gump connection, Gump back in 1994, beat the modern classic "Pulp Fiction" for best Picture. Pulp Fiction is one of the best movies of all time. Now how many times have you seen Pulp Fiction? And how many times have you seen Forrest Gump? (I rest my case!) Could there have been a movie like "No Country for Old men" (which won best picture) or "Snatch" or "True Romance" the 100's of other movies with its roots ultimately from "Pulp Fiction"?????

So you Academy voters, I don't know how you came up with these picks. I cant be the only one so disappointed. Just like Quentin Tarantino was in 1994, Clint Eastwood and Christopher Nolan, this year... you was robbed!

Its all Good.

The 44th President of the United States was sworn in yesterday. An estimated crowd of 2 Million people watched in person, and Billions of people watched all over the World on TV. This was HUGE! Its going to look even bigger when we look back on it 100 years from now. Something changed yesterday. Even if you were not sucked into "Obama fever", something changed. I cant put my finger on it, but it appears the 800 pound gorilla fell off our back. Now, it doesn't mean that the economy isn't going to get better anytime soon, or the two wars we are fighting are going to end soon, but a wave of optimism hit us yesterday like a lighting bolt. America and the World got a good dose of, well, GOOD! That's it...We got a good dose of good. We have this beautiful family in the White House, and they are young and smart...and they are GOOD PEOPLE. Good people matter. At the end of the day, the World just wants to be lead and with, and work with, and live with, good people. The first family are good people. They are out to do good for America and good for the World. I am even more happy and hopeful about the Obama's being good people than I am about them simply being African American, because at the end of the day, had Obama been a black version of Bush, what would we really have to celebrate? This is why everyone can and did celebrate the new first family. This is not just a special day for people of color, its a special for day for everyone. All over the globe, people from all over, saw the America that IS the America that the World has loved all along... The America of hope. The America of opportunity. The America of equality. The GOOD America. God bless this family, and protect them, and give them the strength and the courage to do good...and God Bless America for making it happen.

Its all Good!

Golden Globes Update - Ugh! and Wow!

Its the show no watches on the last place network. 30 Rock is not even the best show on NBC on Thursday night, yet for some reason, critics fawn over 30 Rock and Tina Fey. Once again, she, and Alec Baldwin won Golden Globes. WTF? How does this continue to happen? This is THE MOST overrated show of all time!!!! Tina Fey is its most overrated star, followed by the one dimensional Fattest of Baldwin Brothers. He makes even Kevin Costner appear to have range. But back to Tina...she is not all that. I don't want to see her on another magazine cover (she was on as many covers as Obama!), telling us how "awesome" she is. She is DULL!!! Full of HYPE!!! Lets move on to something else. Can we even put TF's Palin NEXT to Chevy Chase's President Ford???? I think not. Its not going to hold up over time, because Palin is going to be long forgotten in a nano second, and we will be like (who was she mocking???).

The Tina Fey moment ruined my Globes Show. The 30 Rock acceptance speech by Tracy

Morgan was embarrassing. I was happy to see Kate Winslet win for her role in "Revolutionary Road" and that's about it. I felt Gran Torino and Mr Clint Eastwood did not get its due. Hopefully Oscar will notice. I'm going to have to see "The Wrestler" It will be interesting to see if Oscar bites, too. Man, I'm proofing at my blurb and I'm clearly not in the best of moods on this thing. I guess there is too much to be cynical about when your watching a bunch of "Stars" fawn over their work at an awards show... its an easy target.

But on a much brighter note, IMO, the best moment of the show was the Steven Spielberg tribute, and his moving, yet humble speech (receiving the Cecile B. DeMille Award). Steven Spielberg is an American Treasure. I cant imagine the movies without his movies...its unimaginable.

Turn back the clock to 60's TV

As I looking at Gran Torino, I couldnt help but think about these old TV shows I saw as a kid in Detroit on (I think) channel 51. This channel played all the shows. Monkees, I dream of Jeanie, My Three Sons, and Petticoat Junction... and a local favorite, Sir Graves Ghastley. The dude had the original "Creature Feature" and showed great horror movies on Friday night or was it Saturday night. It was THE BOMB!!!! This guy was doing music videos years before MTV. I ate this stuff up.

If you remember the start of the Monkees http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0FUvLfxyp0&NR=1 There is this scene where they moved their feet in unison left and then right. I used to do this with my sister back when we got along. ( I would say we were maybe 6?). Thanks to the magic of U-Tube, you can see ALL of these show intros and go back in memory lane, too. Petticoat Junction?, Man I didn't have a clue what the show was about, but I knew three girls took their dresses off at the start of the show and I always wanted to see more. This may have been one of my very first of many infatuations with girls on film.

Too bad TV is not the centerpiece of pop culture. Now its the Internet. TV, with an additional 1000 channels, lost its consolidated audience. The consolidated audience moved from the newspaper, to the radio, then to TV, and then in all sorts of directions. The consolidated audience now sprinkled all over the place text, e-mail, and video. The crazy thing is information travels faster now than ever, so we all know about things... we just get our information from different sources. I wonder what will fill this massive TV void with my Daughter when its time for her to go back to memory lane? I guess Dora is big enough that kids will be able to talk about that... or I don't know, American Idol? I don't think its the same, but maybe it is... Maybe it is.

Gran Torino - Best Picture of 2008

Walt (the lead Character in Clint Eastwood's movie "Gran Torino") is a familiar one to me, so my absolute bias for this picture is from its roots . You see, I was born in this kind of neighborhood in Detroit. In my life I have met several "Walt's" and they have had a significant influence on me. Now perhaps nothing that I am saying here will make sense until you see the movie. I for one don't like going into a movie knowing too much about what I am going to see, so I am not going to break the movie down in detail for you. I don't think that would be fair. I will say that you absolutely should see it, and if anyone doesn't like it, (this is only for my super 6 followers on my blog), I will send you your money back. (that's a promise). We are in a tremendous time of change...a real changing of the guard so to speak. Just like when a high pressure system hits a low pressure system, you get a storm. Right now we are in the beginning of an cultural -economic tsunami that may take another 20 years to sort itself out. We are witnessing one of the great changes in time not seen since the 2nd industrial revolution. This movie really isn't about these changes , but you can clearly can see (and so well done) the collision of ideas and beliefs on some individuals in a city block. Walt is as American as apple pie...as American as his Gran Torino...as American as Archie Bunker. See this movie and you might see somebody you know.... or knew. I will do a real review for this come Oscar time.

But officially, this is my pick for best picture...and Clint Eastwood - Best Director.

The Overrated list for 2008

2008.... ba bye!!!! Glad to seee you GO! 2008 was one of those crazy crazy years. We had the meltdown of the housing market across the country, an expanded Global financial collapse and worsening recession, the likes we have never seen. Our 401ks became 4ks. Equity in our home became, well, what is equity again? Never mind. To cut to the chase, the shit finally hit the fan. Oh but it wasn't all bad.. We had a MEGA shift change in the Whitehouse, with the election of a young charismatic Senator from Illinois. There is also a real possibility we may have seen our last Bush of any kind in the Whitehouse. There was a ton of compelling stories, but in the hoopla was even MORE things that, in the end, really didn't matter. Things that were simply overrated. I'm going to take you through my list of things I felt were very much overrated in 2008 and in general. Lets start with this family to my right. The Palin clan came out of NO WHERE as the possible future leadership of the New Republican Party. For the life of me I can not explain their popularity. I would put Sarah Palin on the same level as Paris Hilton. (Maybe even a notch below). Todd Palin, who Sara proudly calls the "first Dude". There is nothing more to say, this is a easy target. I'm also going to leave the "kids" out of this one, too. Any fan of "As the World Turns" or "All my Children" needs to follow this family's stories online. There are some juicy things going on in Wasilla. So if Sara is overrated, then the mocking of Sarah is just as overrated. Tina Fey is not THAT funny. Her Star shot to the MOON over these repetitive impersonations she did on SNL. She can thank her lucky stars for the entire set of circumstances. It took her ALL the way to the bank even though SNL drove the skit into the ground. Also, few people actually watch 30 rock no matter how much they pimp the show - no one watches or cares, yet the network folks keep pimping it
because they think a show about a show is funny . No one is laughing ...no one cares , yet she gets awards ...and gets paid!!!

Music

Is there any band short of Vampire Weekend that can match the full on Blather of Coldplay? Coldplay was good back in the day, but the band has turned into a sad mix of Air Supply + Creed. Ive been wanting to say this all year... COLDPLAY SUCKS! Totally overrated. And to think Chris Martin is married to my crush of 10 years, Gwenyth Paltrow (who is not overrated), Ugh, it makes me sick. Its all a big bowl of wrong.

Lil Wayne - Please, the guy is overrated. My worst nightmare is my daughter growing up to like this drivel. The entire scenario scares me.

Carolyn Kennedy for Senator. This is Sarah Palin II. Worth north of a 100 Million dollars and heir to Camelot. Dont expect Tina Fey to be dissing on Ms Kennedy anytime soon, although I see every reason for SNL and Tina Fey to mock this joke of an idea. If the House of Lords does exist, then put her in and lets be done with it. Kennedy is not qualified to be Senator. The sooner we wake up to reality the better. This is EXACTLY how someone like George W Bush became President. Do we want to make that kind of mistake again????

Penn State Football.

There is NO WAY Penn State deserved to be in the Rose Bowl against USC. Penn State is simply not that good. They beat a "ok" Ohio State team that's much better today then they were earlier in the year. They then went to Iowa and got thumped. Penn State benefited from a very kind schedule and now they are paying the price. This is the first real top 10 team they have had to play all year and USC is taking them to the woodshed. Time for JoePa to call it a day. Thank you for your 120 years of service. The game is no longer played with leather helmets and they have this thing called the "forward pass". Oh well. I think they just signed JoePa up for 3 more years, so we don't have about Penn State doing ANYTHING for a while.

Dallas Cowboys and the New York Yankees - Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Both Iconic teams for their leagues are spending HUGE sums of money NOT to go to the playoffs. Vegas had the Cowboys favored to go to the Superbowl. I even had them early on in my fearless Superbowl Predictions. They suck. The star is not shinning. The New York Yankees have not won it all since 2000. This pretty much means that unless they go from worst to first this year, they were all but a non factor the entire decade. That's amazing.

Movies

Lots and Lots of Bad/overrated movies in 2008. I'm just going to roll through the list The Love Guru, Step Brothers, 10,000 BC, Speed Racer, Australia, Drillbit Taylor, Smart People, Sex in the City (yes I said it... it SUCKED!!!) Rambo IV, The Happening (this movie was disturbing and yet so retarded all at the same time, I really wanted my money back) and last but not least.. Fools Gold.

To end my whine fest of all things overrated, Id like to add a few other things to my list. Carly Fiorna, Ford, GM, and Chrysler. Congress. The Senate. Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac. CNN, Nancy Grace, Dr Laura, Rush Limbaugh, Real Estate, The Nasdaq, Hybrid Cars, Green Products, The Chinese Olympic Team. England's National Soccer team. The LA Dodgers and Anaheim Angels. and last but not least... Snow.

Happy New Year! Lets hope the list is shorter next year.